Stellenbosch, Lanzerac

Abstract

Photographs and information on the bell at Lanzerac wine estate in Stellenbosch. One of the most intriguing bells in the Western Cape area is found at Lanzerac Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. The original farm transferred in 1692 from Simon van der Stel to Isaac Schrijver who gave the domain the appropriate name Schoongezicht. The current building was bought in 1914 for 18000 pound by Elizabeth Katherina English who promptly changed the name Schoongezicht to Lanzerac. Presumably the horseshoe construction dates from the same period. In 1991 the whole complex was bought by Christo Wiese, a business man from Cape Town who transformed the place into a 5-star complex. More recently the whole estate has been sold again. This remarkable bell might well be among the oldest in the whole wine area. The inscriptions on the bell sits in between two sets of two moulding wires and reads

J:W & 1722

We are quite uncertain what the inscription J.W. might refer to. Given its age, this heavily mutilated and repaired bell deserves further study. It looks very doubtful that the bell should be of local making. Even with the limited amount of decoration, the founding of the bell could hardly have been done by local craftsmen. Moreover, the sound of the bell also illustrates a certain amount of craftsmanship. Thanks to information from Colin Lewis, a founder who used to work in the Eastern Cape, we might have found a possible founder. The candidate is John Waylett who ran a foundry in Hertfordshire, England between 1703 and 1729. The inscriptions on the bell are somewhat similar to those on other bells of this founder. We also have found one bell on which only the initials have been used. Even if this guess could be further substantiated, it remains a mystery how the bell ended up in Lanzerac in South Africa.